Duke Energy gives tips to manage high holiday electric bills | Eastern NC Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the Carolina Journal. The author of this post is Katherine Zehnder.

    Holiday lights bring cheer and joy, until the electric bill arrives at the end of the month. However, Duke Energy, the largest energy company in North Carolina, offers tips to help its customers reduce their utility usage and minimize the impact on their monthly bills.

    Duke offers a holiday lights calculator that helps customers plan ahead and estimate the additional cost of their holiday light displays on their utility bill. By identifying the type of lights, number of bulbs per strand, and the number of hours used during the day, customers can estimate the additional cost that will be added to their monthly bill.

    Large incandescent bulbs will add much more than LED bulbs. Six strings of 100 incandescent bulbs, each turned on for six hours, would add approximately $80 to a monthly bill. While six strands of 100 LED bulbs would add only about $7, and for an even more cost-effective option, the same amount of mini-LED bulbs would increase the monthly bill by only $1.

    With the holidays come more cooking and baking, which, like holiday lights, will also add to the electric bill. Duke also offers a holiday cooking calculator to help customers estimate the cost of holiday cooking based on the appliance, wattage, cooking time, and average kWH per hour.

    Duke also offers other money-saving tips for these cold holiday months. Thermostats can be one of the largest contributors to monthly power bills. Set the thermostat to the lowest comfortable temperature and lower it a degree or two when leaving. Change air filters regularly and keep up with maintenance and regular service on the heating and cooling system. On sunny days, let the sunlight in by opening drapes or blinds. And of course, wear warm clothing.

    In 2022, Duke Energy implemented rolling blackouts to stabilize the energy grid during the bitter cold temperatures of the holiday season. Experts say a repeat of the 2022 blackouts is unlikely.


    "Fortunately, the risk of another holiday blackout is quite low," Jon Sanders, director of the Center for Food Power and Life, at the John Locke Foundation, told the Carolina Journal. "What happened in 2022 was a perfect storm of equipment failures, loss of expected power purchases, and the fact that the cold snap affected so much of the East Coast. Furthermore, North Carolinians were able to avoid a blackout during a heat wave last summer when the US Energy Secretary Chris Wright granted Duke Energy an emergency order to exceed emissions levels if needed to keep the power on. Thanks to that order, Duke was able to keep the power on with 30% more coal generation than the previous day."

    By utilizing energy-efficient options and planning, cost efficiency does not need to be sacrificed during holiday festivities.